​Library Book Arrest: Are you kidding me?

A library in Texas took action when one of their community members failed to return an overdue book, by facing an arrest by the police. Jory C. Enck never returned the GED study guide that he checked out in 2010, so he’s been slapped with a fine.

Enck, of Copperas Cove in central Texas, was arrested Oct. 23 on an outstanding warrant. He was released on a $200 bond and given a court date, in accordance with a local ordinance.

Copperas Cove City Municipal Judge Bill Price told KWTX that the law, which was passed almost four years ago, was intended to offset the cost of replacing library materials.

“No one wants to get arrested over a library book,” Price said. “The other side of that is people who go to our library and can’t have these materials, they’re put out, too.”

A person must have an overdue book checked out for at least 90 days and not be responding to phone calls or e-mails before the municipal court is notified, according to library policies.

“I guess that they have to have some way to enforce the rules at the library to return borrowed material, I think that’s a little extreme personally and I’ll certainly talk to the mayor to maybe get that changed,” Copperas Cove resident Clyde Glosson told the station.

Copperas Cove Police Sgt. Julie Lehmann said an officer will make an arrest for overdue library materials, if during a routine stop or call, they discover an individual has an active warrant.
She told FoxNews.com that such arrests are not frequent, though they’ve happened before.

“It’s not like this is the first time,” she said.

Efforts by FoxNews.com to reach Enck on Thursday were not immediately successful, and it was not clear whether he had an attorney.